digitalBush

Recently, Ashley and I have started subscribing to the Sunday edition of the Tennessean.  Our goal for subscribing was to get some extra coupons to use while the shop for groceries.  That decision has been a good one so far.  We've been able to save a dollar here and there on things we buy anyway.  The subscription cost is low, so it has already paid for itself.

Photo courtesy of vivekn

Besides the money saving, I'm finding that I really enjoy reading through the paper.  The dog likes to wake me up way too early in the mornings.  After I take him outside, I get to sit down with the paper like an old man and keep up with what's going on in the world.  I had become so accustomed to the Internet and it's delivery medium that I had forgotten how much I enjoy printed materials.  The morning silence is quite therapeutic.

Reading the paper provides a much more broad exposure to the world.  One of the benefits of Internet based news sources is the ability to only get news that you care about.  That benefit is also a negative in my mind.  By only reading things you care about, you zone in on specific topics while ignoring others.  The newspaper forces me to at least acknowledge that other topics exist.  Given that, I end up reading things I normally wouldn't and feel more enlightened for it.

The Internet provides a nearly infinite source of information.  There is more out there than I could ever read.  Even still, I'm not convinced that it is always the best way to receive information.  Take a trip down to your newsstand and pick up a paper.  You might just find a new way to enjoy your rainy Sunday morning.

Photo courtesy of the trial

Recently I was involved in some festivities at work that resulted in some pictures and video being captured of me. When I went back and looked at myself in those pictures, it was terribly hard. The whole time I kept thinking to myself, "Do I really look like that? I look horrible." Some of my friends say that I shouldn't be so hard on myself, but I think quite the opposite. I think everyone should be hard on themselves. Those people that set high standards for themselves do big things and inspire those around them to do better.

The video was a major wake up call. A picture you can almost dismiss because of the awkward times that photos get taken. Video, on the other hand, is a whole other ballgame. I actually got to see my movement and the manner in which I carry my body. Ugh, it makes me cringe just thinking about it. I know I have to keep going to remedy that.

This type of thing motivates me in a major way. I won't use this experience as a way of letting myself get down in the dumps. I will use this as a motivator for where I shouldn't be. I see that and must run the other way as quickly as I can.

All of this is really a good lesson for all. It's important to see yourself from the outside. Sometimes we can get so self absorbed that we can overlook things about ourselves. I'm sure that everyone has qualities that are not desirable but are ignorant to that fact. If you have the opportunity (and an open mind), please take a look at who you are and how others see you. You might be surprised.

A kind soul emailed me this morning to inform me that that my project demonstrations were broken.  It appears that my upgrade to the latest version of wordpress jacked them up slightly.  I traced the problem down to the wptexturize() function.  It was making pretty quotes out of some embedded javascript in the pages that make the demos work.  I added "remove_filter('the_content', 'wptexturize');" to my theme's functions.php file and all is well. This line just removes the pretty formatting from all of my posts.  Since I post code on here from time to time, I imagine that would make things hard to copy/paste anyway. 

I've made a few subtle changes to the site over the past couple of days. For starters, I finally upgraded to the latest version of wordpress. I got rid of the email subscription link and moved the search up in the header. I'm hoping to get support for gravatars into my theme shortly.

Another change I've made is getting a few ads into the layout. I'm going to make sure that the ads are done as tastefully as possible and don't interfere with the content. I'll keep the number and size of the ads down so they aren't overwhelming and obnoxious.

I just wanted to apologize to those who have sent me email through the site with questions about my jQuery plugins.  I got behind on my email and now I'm trying to dig back out.  I've gone back and answered all the questions that I can.  I just wanted to apologize for being so slow.